policy changes in countries like Australia Canada and the United Kingdom make international students think twice about where they want to study buckle up because in this video I'm sharing five countries that are great alternatives to the popular study abroad destination and the first one Numa we have Dand Germany Germany has always been a popular destination among International students for many reasons for example there are no tuition fees at public universities I think one of the biggest advantages of studying in German is that you don't have to spend a lot of money the policy is based
on the fact that Germany wants to make education accessible not only to local students but also for international students while tuition may be free don't forget that you still need to pay for your accommodation Transportation books you also have a semester contributions and it typically varies from 100 to like 500 it's still super affordable compared to Canada where you need to spend like 20K a year to study but please bear in mind that studying in a public university is in German so you need to be fluent however you can always find private institutions that teach
in English and the prices depend on the program so they can vary from 3,000 up to 20,000 years for a year another reasons to choose Germany is that they have really quality education especially in the research driven programs Fields like engineering medicine and natural Sciences are particularly strong let's not forget about Germany's location it's located perfectly in the middle of Europe so if you want to study and travel Germany is a great place to be also they have really nice train and everything I've heard about Dean I know that the trains can be late however
they do exist you can spend a weekend in another German City or you can even go to another country which is amazing because in Canada the only country you can go and spend a weekend in his States unless you want to like fly to Mexico Cuba and whatever but I mean Germany's location amazing and the best part the cherry on top Germany has just changed the Naturalization law meaning you can get citizenship in Germany in 5 years and if you are super duper qualified in demand kind of thing person you can get your citizenship in
3 years no other country as far as I know does not offer that type of citizenship situation so if you go to you know move to another country get citizenship get settled Germany is the country you want to be looking at however however there are cons to studying in Germany and I think the major one for many people is a new language German is not the easiest language I should say and I do speak almost five languages I started learning German in great six I think and all of those you know D do and then
like all the cases when D becomes there or do becomes then and you're like where in English you don't even have that no like you know genders no like articles no like cases to the words so yeah if you're not willing to learn a new language maybe Germany is not the place for you also Germany is known for its bureaucracy the paperwork and the process of getting Visa or like residence permit it might take some time despite free tuition fees it might be still expensive to live in major German cities like Berlin Frankfurt Munich and
also the lines to even rent an apartment those are crazy every time I speak to my friends in Germany they're like there are literally 50 people in line in front of the building to see one apartment and the landlords are like you know choosing which is crazy to me because I haven't seen that in Canada I haven't seen that in Portugal well maybe now that's the case but Germany's housing market and this whole like Hunger Game situation is just crazy and you need to be aware of that also weather in Germany might not be everyone's
cup of tea speaking of tea because it can get cold it can even snow so if you're not ready for snow in your life Germany out and of course since tuition is free almost free the competition is going to be high because who wants to pay 20,000 your for tuition well not me so please be aware of that too if you want to get your free spot you need to have good grades you need to have great language skills blah blah blah the next country on my list is Ireland and Ireland has also been on
International students Raiders for many years Ireland consistently places among top 10 20 countries to live in according to Global Peace Index according to like other sources in 2023 it ranked number three as the most peaceful country in the world so why should you choose Ireland first of all again quality education Irish universities are known for academic excellence and they highly ranked globally Ireland is an English-speaking country which is a plus for many International students want to study abroad living in an English-speaking country means it will eliminate the language barrier and that you won't need to
learn another language Ireland is rich in history the nature is just amazing Ireland is also home to many tech companies like Google for example but also companies in Pharmaceuticals in finance so if you're planning to do something like this in your life maybe you should take a closer look at irland also irand just announced that they are planning to welcome more International students in the upcoming years which is good news for us some of the reasons not to choose Island first of all the weather the weather is um garbage the weather is like uh you
know wet I should say since it's a bit higher up north there's no you know Portuguese summer going to the beach I mean there are days like that for sure but last year my mom was in Ireland I think in July it was plus 15 and it was raining every single day so if you are okay with that type of weather sure Ireland is a perfect place but if you need more vitamin D and sun in your life well maybe Ireland is not for you the cost of living in cities like Dublin or cork might
be expensive so moving to Ireland to study might need you a careful financial planning compared to countries like the UK Canada Ireland has definitely less options to choose from which can be limiting for some students this also might mean that there will be more competition to get into those universities and another major con I should say is the cost of study the average tuition fees for non-european students can vary but I would say they start at like €10,000 per year up to 30 which can be a deal breaker for some so yeah Ireland offers high
quality education but you need to be really careful and you need to plan really well if you don't want to end up paying a lot of money and moving on to the next destination for international students and it is Portugal and I'm not putting Portugal on the list because I live here but because I feel like Portugal is a Hidden Gem well not so hidden anymore I have a video where I talk just about education in Portugal if you want to take a look after you finish this one but long story short Portugal offers also
high quality affordable education you can get a European passport in 5 years the weather is just amazing sunny all year round except for today when I'm filming which is amazing no you know sun no nothing the lighting is perfect Portugal is safe and peaceful according to all those resources that I mentioned earlier on top of that Portuguese people are really welcoming and friendly and on top of that Portuguese people speak English really well that was a surprise to me when I moved here I was like I thought I mean I know that Portuguese is the
primary language but every time I try to speak Portuguese they will switch to English and I'm like wow that's crazy but then I went to the movies and I realized all the movies are in English and that they learn English at school so if you're worried about learning Portuguese you can do that while you're studying but you can definitely navigate your live in English while studying as for the downsize as for the cons first of all the living situation in Portugal is just crazy the housing prices are crazy like you need to be allocating at
least 1,500 for one bedroom apartment if you're planning to live in Lisbon or in PTO in PTO it might be a little bit cheaper but it's not the Lisbon that we used to know like 10 years ago where you can find an apartment for like 400 no now it's like 1,500 plus if you want to live in a nice spacious apartment with a lot of light not like somewhere in the basement but of course you can always find roommates you can live in dorms that option is available to you too also Portugal's job market is
kind of limited I should say because if you're planning to you know work after your studies you might want to move to another country cuz Portuguese Market's really small the salaries are not not that great especially when you take a look at the rental prices you're like the math is not math in Portugal is also one of those countries where things happen slowly and it doesn't matter if we're talking about the you know plumber coming to see you or if it's your visa application things might take some time and again new language Portugal official language
is Portuguese so if you're not planning to learn the language I mean I mean you can totally survive without it but I would encourage that you learn a little bit Poco as for the tuition fees they vary in public universities from like 3,000 per year which is super affordable to like 10 and in private universities you can expect to pay somewhere from like 4 5,000 per year up to 10 12 which is also pretty affordable I should say considering the fact that you live in Europe and the next country on my list is you'll be
surprised and it's South Korea when I was doing my research I found that a lot of students go to South Korea to study and South Korea is actually encouraging that the South Korean government just announced that they want to attract 300,000 foreign students by 2027 first of all they prioritize in students who want to study stem and they encourage students to apply to universities outside of Soul because you know major cities that's what happened to them Korean government also offers different kinds of financial aid and scholarships and they saying they want to help you with
your permanent residency they want to have a special fast track for foreign students currently it's 6 years to get permanent residency in South Korea they planning to cut it in half so it's going to be 3 years so why should you choose South Korea first of all it is no surprise to anybody that Asia is like ahead of the whole world so the technological advancement is real if you want to study engineering robotics Electronics I feel like Asia is the place to be again South Korea offers a bunch of financial aid scholarships for international students
and they even have special support programs South Korea is also known for low crime rates efficient public transportation and high standard healthc care which is kind of important and which cannot be seen everywhere in the world let's talk about disadvantages first of all new language while the number of programs are taught in English many courses are still offered in Korean also for your day-to-day life you might want to speak some Korean the culture in South Korea is different so you might take some time to get used to it to adjust to the new reality and
while the tuition fees are not that high the cost of living can be high again it really depends where you go because if you choose Soul yeah of course it's going to be super expensive but if you go to other small cities you might be just fine I've mentioned tuition fees but I haven't actually shared them so in South Korea you can study at a public university for as low as 2 3,000 USD per year in private universities you can expect to pay from like3 to like $7,000 a year which is pretty affordable well not
free education like in Germany but compared to for example Australia great deal but please bear in mind that as anywhere in the world if you want to study medicine if you want to study business engineering if you want to get MBA those programs going to be expensive and another amazing country for international students is France France has always been the destination for international students for many reasons and in 2022 2023 they welcomed over 400,000 International students France is home to world's most prestigious educational institutions like sbon like e normal super like if you go to
sbon you can go anywhere in the world later on and people will know that your education was amazing tuition fees are also really low compared to other European countries especially if you study in French they can be like super low like we're talking 3,000 per year for undergraduate programs 4,000 for graduate programs and like 500 years for PhD France is also located perfectly in the middle of Europe so if you're planning to do your studies and travels France France is the place to be on top of that you get amazing history beautiful architecture food wine
and not to mention the French people the the style the everything every time I come to France I'm like however however France is not perfect if you're planning to live in major cities well you guessed it the cost of living is going to be crazy like Paris forget about it but again roommates exist you can share your apartment with like two other people and you won't need to spend like lots of money if you're not proficient in French you might face with some difficulties because some of the French people they're like no no no I
don't want to talk to you like uh yingo but if you do speak a little bit of French I'm pretty sure they'll be nice to you and on top of that France alongside with Portugal and Germany bureaucratic hell no hate to friends but getting papers done visas permits everything it takes so much time and effort so every time people are like oh Julia you guys speak French why don't you move to France I'm like I've had enough in Quebec so French bureaucracy chiao Bella don't want you and of course the competition is going to be
real in prestigious universities because many students want to study at song like you're not the only one so you need to be prepared for that overall I think studying in France can be a very nice and rewarding experience however you need to be prepared for some challenges like bureaucracy all right I think this is it for today if you were to pick the country to study which one would you pick and why let us know in the comments maybe you already studying in a country that was not on this list and you want to share
with us your experience and as always if you want a video about a specific country you were like ooh I kind of like Germany Julia I film a video about Germany please let me know in the comments thank you for watching thank you for being here with me and I'll see you next week [Music]
